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Copy 1 

** March of the Flag'' 

Speech by 

Hon. Albert J. Beveridge^ 

Opening the Campaign of 1898, 

Delivered at Tomlinson Hall, September J 6. 
Indianapolis, Ind 



PUBLIC LIBRARY 

OCT 2 81915 

WASHINGTON 



THB 

"March of the Flag" 

Beginning of Greater America. 



Endorsement of the War Administration 

the Issue. 



American Voters to Stand by Their Government— Effect of 

tliis Election on Other Nations— New Markets for 

American Products — Settlement of the 

Money Question — Onward 

March of the Ameri= 

can Flag. 



SPEECH BY 

HON. ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE 

Opening the Indiana Republican Campaign, 

at Tomlinson Hall, Indianapolis, 

Friday, September 16, 1898. 



~SS7 



(Stenographic RtpoKT.) 



I'l'UdW-Citizens: It is a iiolilc l.-ind that Coil has given us; a laud 
that can IVorl ami clothi' the world; a laud whose coast lines would 
en<Iose jiall' the countries of Kurope; a land set lilve a sentinel Ix'tweeii 
the two imperial oceans ol' the globe, a greater Knglaud wiih a nobler 
destiny. iA|i|ilause.l 11 is a mighty people Iliat lie has planted on 
this soil: a people sprung from the most masterful blood of history; a 
people perpetually ri vitalized by the virile, man-producing working- 
folk of all the earth, lapplauset; a people imi)erial by virtue of their 
power, by right of their institutions, by authority of their lieaveu-di- 
rected purjjoses— the propagandists and not the misers of liberty. 
(Great cheering). It is a glorious history our God has bestowed tipon 
Mis chosen people: a history whose keynote was struck by Liberty 
Hell, lapplausei: a history heroic with faith in our mission and our 
future: a hislor.v of statesmen who Hung the boundaries of the Ue- 
pulilic out into unexjilored lands and savage wildernesses: a history 
of soliliers who carried the flag across the blazing deserts and 
through the ranks of Ixistile mountains, even to the gates of sun- 
set, (cheers): a history of a multiijlying piMijile who overran a conti- 
nent in half a centiu'y; a history of prophets who saw the conse- 
(luences of evils inherited from the past and of martyrs who died 
to save us fi-om them; a liistoi-y divinely logical, in the jyrocess of 
whose IremeiKlous i-easoning we lind oiu'selves to-day. (Cheers.) 

Till') issiK Nor i'.\i; iis.w imp .\mi:i;i( a.n. 

Therefore, in this campaign. Ilie iiueslion is larger than a party 
(juestion. It Is an Aniei'ic.-in question. It is a world (piestion. (Great 
applause.) Shall the .\merican peoi)le continue their resisiless inarch 
toward the comniercial supremacy of the world? Shall free institu- 
tions broaden their blessed reign as the children of liberty wa.\ in 
strength, until the empire of our principles is (>stablishe(l over the 
hearts of all mankind? (Applause.) Have we no mission to perform, 
no iluty to discharge to oiu- fellow-man? Has the Almighty Father 
endowed us with gifts beyond our <leserts .'ind marked us as, the 
I)e<iiile of His i)eculiar favor, merely lo rot in our own seltishuess. as 
men and n.-itions miisl. who lake cowardice for their companion Tind 
self for their Deity— as China has, as India has, as Egypt has? (Ap- 
plause.) Shall we be as the man who had one talent and hid it, or as _, 
he who had ten talents ;ind used them until they grew lo riches?__' 
And shall we reap the reward that waits on our discliaim' of our 
high duty as the sovereign [jower of earth; shall we occupy new mar- 
kets for whal our farmers raise, new markets for what our factories 
make, new markets for what our merchants sell— a.ve. and, please 
(Jod. new niarkets for what our ships shall carry? (Prolonged cheer- 
ing.) Shall we avail ourselves of new soiu'ces of sujjply of what we 
do not raise or m.ake, so that what are luxin'ies to-day will be necessi- 
ties to-morrow? Shall our commerce be encom-aged until, with 
Oceanica, the Orient and the world, American traile shall b(> the im- 
perial trade of the entire globe? (Cheei'S.) Shall we conduct the 
mighli(St commerce of history with the best money known to man, 
(u- shall we use the paiiper money of Mexico, of China and of the 
Chicago platform? ((Jreat applause.) 

In a sentence, sh.-ill tlie .\me]-ic:in people endorse at the polls the 
American .\dministralion of \Villi;im .McKinley. (great and prolonged 
cheering), which, under the guidance of Divine I'l'ovidence, has started 
the Hepubllc on its noblest ciin'er of prosperity, duly and glory, or 
shall the .\)iierican people rebuke that .Vd)iiinislration. reverse the 
wheels of hisloiy. hall the career of the Hag and tuiM) to thai pm'pose- 
less horde of criticism and car|)iiig, (applausei. dial is assailing the 
Government at \\':ishington? Sh.all it be .McKinley. sound money and 
a world-concpieriiig commerce, or Kryau. Hailey. lUand and Black- 
burn, a bastai-d ciwrency and a pol'cy of commerci.il retreat? (Pro- 
longed cheering.) In the only foreign war this Nation has had in two 
generations, will you. \]u- votei-s of this Heiiubljc and the guardians 



^ of its good repute, give tlie other nations of the world to understand 

^ that the American people do not approve and endorse the Adminis- 

tratiou that conducted it. (Applause.) 
\; In both peace and war, for we rely on the new birth of prosperity 

as well as on the new birth of national glory. Think of both! Think 
I of our countrv two vears ago and think of it to-day! 

^^ TIIK REPUBLIC YESTEKDAY AND TO-DAY. 

Two years and more ago American labor begged for work; to- 
^ day employment calls from mine, factory and field. (Applause.) Two 

j^ years and more ago money tied troni the fingers of enterprise; to-day. 

^ irioney is as aliundant as demand. In IS'JC, bonds were sold to syn- 

^ dicates in sudden emergencies to save the Nation's credit; in 1898, 

bonds were sold to the people in the emergency of war. to rescue the 
oppressed and redeem benighted lands. (Great applause.) In l.SOG, 
we exported gold in obedience to the natural laws of finance; in 1898, 
we export bayonets in obedience to the natural laws of liberty. 
(Cheers.) In 18'.)4, the American people fought each other, because of 
misunderstandings born of the desperation of the times; in 1898. 
united and resistless, capitalist and workingmau. side by side in 
trench and charge, the American peoi)le fight the last great pirate of 
the ^^•orld, in a war holy as righteousness. (Great cheering.) ' Two 
years and more ago, error-l)liuded and hatred-maddened men sought 
to create classes among the people, declared the decadence of x\.meri- 
can manhood, and proclaimed the beginning of the end of the Re- 
public; to-day proves that patriots are the only class this country 
knows, (applause); that American manhood is as virile under San- 
tiago's sun as it was among the snows of Valley Forge, ) (applause), 
and tliat the real career of history's greatest republic liffs only just 
liegun. Two years and more ago. a lonely American Tresident sat in 
the White House, disened by his jiarty and estranged from the peo- 
ple; to-day, in the chair of Washington and Lincoln, guiding God's 
chosen people along the lines of their divine destiny, sits another 
American President, William McKinley, (prolonged applause and 
cheering), with a united nation around him. 

A moment ago I said that the Administration of William McKin- 
ley had been guided by a providence divine. That was no sacrilegious 
sentence. The signature of Events proves it. This Man of Destiny 
has amazed the world. He was nominated as the apostle of protec- 
tion; in six months he was the standard bearer of the Nation's honor. 
He was elected as ,he representative of the conservative forces of the 
Republic; in two years he filled the world with the thunder of the 
Re])ublic's guns and the heavens with the unfurled flag of liberty. 
(Applause ) This man. whom the world regarded as only a single- 
issue statesman, as a tarifl-scheilule expert, gave to his countrymen 
the ablest argument in l.nance since Hamilton, caught up the tangled 
lines of a diplomatic situation vexed with infinite complications and 
inherited blunders, gave nianknd a noble example of patient tact, 
taught the nations their first lesson in the diplomacy of honest 
speech, (cheers), refused to be stampeded into conflict until the thun- 
derbolts of war were forged, (applause), launched them at last when 
time had sanctified our cause before the bar of history, and preparation 
had made then) irresistible, and now. in the hour of victory, clear-eyed 
and unelate. marks out the lines of our foreign policy as'the soon-to- 
be supreme power of the wm-Id. and gives to the flag its rightful do- 
minion over tlie islands of the sea. (Cheers.) Who' dai-(>s say God's 
hand has not guided him? Who will fail to say amen with his vote 
to the Administration and career of the last American President of the 
Nineteenth Century. McKinley, the master-statesman of his time. 
(Protracted and renewed cheering.) 

FOREKIN NATIONS AND THIS ELECTION. 

Wiiat are the great facts of this Administration? Not a failure 
of revenue, (applause); not a pr<ipetual battle between the executive 

—3— 



ami k'gislalive departments of governmeut; not a rescue from dis- 
honor by Kuriipi'au syndicates, at tue price ul' lens of millions in cash 
ai!(l national luimiliation unspealiable. These liavi,' not niai'lced the 
past two years— the past two years, which have Idossomed into four 
splendid montlis of glory! (Cheers.) But a war has marked it, the 
most holy ever wagea by one nation against another— a war for civi- 
lization, a war for a permanent peace, a war which, under <;od, al- 
though we knew it not, swung open to the Republic the portals of the 
commerce of the world. (Cheers.) And the first question you must 
answer with your vote is, whether you endorse that war? We are told 
that all citizens and every platform endorses the war, and I ad- 
mit, with the joy of patriotism, that this is true. But that is only 
among ourselves— and we are of and to ourselves no longer. This 
election takes place on the stage of the world, with all earth's nations 
for our auditors. If the Administration is defeated at the polls, will 
England believe that we accept the results of the war? Will Ger- 
many, that sleepless searcher for new markets for her factories and 
fields, and therefore the effective meddler in all international compli- 
cations — will (Jermany be discouraged from interfering with our set- 
tlement of the war. if the Administration is defeated at the polls? 
(Applause.) Will Russia, that weaver of the webs of commerce into 
which province after province and ])eople after people falls, regard 
us as a steadfast people if the administratiou is defeated at the 
polls'; (Applause.) The world is observing us to-day. Not a foreign 
oflice in lOurope that is not studying the American Republic and 
watching llie .Vinericaii elections of ISitS as it never watched an 
American election before. (Aindause.) Are the American ])eople the 
chameleon of the nations? •'11^ so, we can easily handle them." say 
the dijiloniats of thi> world. Which result, say you. will have the best 
effect for us upon the great Powers who watch us with the jealousy 
strength always inspires— a defeat, at the hands of the American peo- 
ple, of the Administration which has conducted our foreign war to 
a wofld-embracing sticcess, (applause), and which has in hand the 
most important foreign problems since the Revolution; or, such an 
endorsement of the Administration by the American peoi)le as will 
swell to a national acclaim? (Cheers.) No matter what your views 
on the Dingley or the Wilson laws; no matter whether you favor 
Mexican money or the standard of this Republic, we must deal from 
this day (Ui with nations greedy of I'ver.y market we are to inv.-ide; 
nations with statesmen trained in craft, nations with shijis and guns 
and money and men. Will they sift out the motive for your vote, or 
will they consider the large result of the endorsement or rebuke of 
the Administration? pl'lie world still rubs Its eyes from its awakening 
to the resistless power and sure destiny of this Republic. Which out- 
come of this election will be best for America's future — which will 
most healthfully impress every peojile of the globe with the steadfast- 
ness of character and tenacit.v of purpose of the American jK'opli' — the 
triumph of the government at the polls, or the success of the Oppo- 
sition ?J>(.\pplause.) I re])eat, it is luore than a party question. It is 
an American question. It is an issue in which history sleeps. It Is a 
situation which will iiilluence the destiny of the Rcitublic. (.\pplause.) 
There is an issue in the war which affects oufselves. Shall we 
endorse the Administration on the conduct of the war? (Cheers.) 
What of the conduct of the war? In the first place the men who are 
now defaming American soldiers before the world: the men who are 
assailing the Government at Washington for not suflicienlly prepar- 
ing, are the very same luen who tried to plunge the Nation into war 
before we had prepared at all. (Tremendotis cheering, lasting several 
minutes). Men declared tliat McKiidey was to<i slow: he w.-iited still. 
Politicians willing to buy votes with some other man's lilood. (ap- 
plause), called him coward: uiuuoved. the President plead with Spain 
to let the oiipressed go. Bass-drum orators and liDwie-knife editors 
(great applaiise) denounced Jdni as ajmstate \n lilierty; he silently held 
his course. A gr(>at party's unwise leaders lifted tiie slogan of, "On 
to Havana:" the Chief Magistrate pursued the policies of peace. But 



..ile. in ana out of his party. rnen.j>^^^>^^^^^^^^^;^ 
(applause) '^to""'^''!: ^l^.^'^^^t.J^'^UU.r McKinler"ilentl v prepared, 
world looked on with mquirj, )^ '"'• ™ ^^\^;^^^ ,eheers), and he knew 
(Great cheering). He had ^'^f'^/" ;;'';., "^^'^'fl.e a gu". dn'olonged 
that you must have powder l"'.**'.''^; 5\'" "" ° „ ,.,^° feed soldiers, 
applause), you n^>>«t have prov Mons be^o^e you a.u^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ 

vou must have a cause befoie 5""^^'\, '„'■,.,.,. let time and events 
sue; then, when ships were j"«""''^ '''»?/' "f„' our Ser President 

"1'^^ "vet^'havT we peac'f irs"no't\he cloud of war linger on the 

rrslecurinithe mms of a successful ---^IJ^^ll^ZLnTl^^l 
Germany rebukins Bismarck at the moment he ^'^^^f'^ff *'°^i P^^gy 
fo France! (Applause.) What would America say of «^*^™ '^ *V,^^^ 
should do such a deed of mingled insanity, perhdy and folly? What 
Sd the wor d sav of America, if. in the very midst of peace nego^ 
Wt ons upon whic-h the nations are looking with jealousy fear and 
ntred he American people should rebuke the Administration in 
cS'othote peace negotiations and place a hostile House and Sen- 
ate in Washington'' (Applause.) God forbid! •APl^''''"^''-^,^^ t^oir 
p ople show sit^h inconstancy, such childish ^^^-';i^^^^' '''''' 
career as a power among nations is a memory. (Applausf^.) 

But if possible war Un-ks in the future, what then? Shall we for- 
sake our leaders at the close of a campaign of glory --^^^^-^'H'^l^^l 
new campaigns for which it has prepared? Yet. that is yn'Jt |"e 
success of tSe Opposition to the Gov.n-nment means. What is that 
od saving about the idiocy of him who changed horses "'bde "oss^ 
?ng a stream? It would be like discharging a workman '^ecau^e he 
was efficient and true. It would be like court-marti.aling ^raiU ^"^ 
discharging his heroes in dislionor because th.'y took \ieksburg. 
(Great applanse.) 

THE slandf:rers of our soldiers. 

Ah' the heroes of Vicksburg and Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, aiis- 
sion Ridge, the Wilderness and all those fields of glory, of suffering 
and of death' (Cheers.) Soldiers of 18(31! A generatmn has passed 
and vou have reared a race of heroes worthy of yonr blood-(pro- 
Ton-ed applause and cheers)-heroes of El Cauey, San .Juan and Ca- 
Ue of Santiago and Manila^aye! and two hundred thousand more as 
brave as thev. who waite.l in camp with the .ngony of impatience he 
call to battle, ready to count the hellish hardship of the trenches the 
very sweets ;f fate, if they could only fight for the flag. (Great and 
renewed cheering.) For every tented field was full of Hobsons ot 
Roosevelts of Wheelers, and their men; full of the kind of soldiers 
that in regiments of rags, starving, with barefeet in the snows of 
winter made Valley Forge immortal, (applause); full of the same kind 
of bovs that endured the hideous hardships of the Civil War, (ap- 
Dlause) drank from filthy roadside pools as they marched through 
swamps of deatli. ate food alive with weevils, and even corn picked 



from the liorscs' ciinip, slept in Ilic lil;iiikcts of the blnst with sheets 
of sleet for eoveritis. Ineiikfiisted with danger and dined with death, 
and eanie liack— tliose who did come liack— with ;i lati^n and n shout 
and a song of joy, true American soldiers, pride of thiir country and 
envy of the world. (Cheers.) For that is the kind of hoys the soldiers 
of 1808 are. (prolonged and rejieated ch(>ering). notwilhslandiug the 
slanders of politicians and tlie infamy of a leprous press that try 
to make the world believe our soldiers are suckling l)al>es and wo- 
manish weaklings, and our Coverunient, in war. a corrupt macliine. 
fattening off the suffering of our armies. In the name of the sturdy 
soldiery of America I denounce tlie hissing lies of politicians out of an 
issue, "(applause), who are trying to disgrace American manhood in 
the eyes of I lie nations. In the name of patriotism. 1 arraign these 
maliguers of tlie soldierhood of our Nation lief ore the bar of the pres- 
ent and the past. lApidause.) I call to the witness stand that Bayard 
of our armies. Ceneral .loe Wheeler. (Applause.) 1 call that Hotspur 
of the South. Fitzlmgli Lee. (Applause.) I call the •200,n(X) men, 
themselves, who went to war for the business of war. ((ireat ap- 
plause and cheers. I And I put all these against the vandals of poli- 
tics who are blackening their fame as soldiers and as men. (Ap- 
plause.) I call history to the witness stand. In the .Mexican w.ar the 
loss from every cause was '2'> Tier cent., and this is on incomplete re- 
turns; in the present war the loss frmii every cause is only '^ per 
cent. (Creat apiilanse.) In the Mexican war the sick lay naked on 
the ground with only blankets over tlicni and were Imried with only 
a blanket around them. Of the volunteer force 5.423 were discharged 
for disaliility. and :',:22i) died frmii disease. When Scott mtirched 
to Mexico. ' (Uily ninety-six men were left out of one regiment 
of one thonsaui'l. The average of a Mississippi company was re- 
duced from !I0 to ?,0 men. From Ver.a Cruz to Mexico a line of sick 
and dying marked his line of march, (ieneral Taylor publicly de- 
clarcMl ' that, in his army, live men died from sickness for every 
man killed in btittle. Scott demanded surgeons. The (iovernment 
refused to give them. The three months men lost nearly ft per cent.; 
the six inontlis men lost 14 per cent.: the twelve iiKUiths men 2'.) per 
cent.; the men enlisted for tlie war lost MT per cent.: :!l.!n4 soldiers en- 
listed for the war, and 11.1)14 of tliese wi-re lost, of whom 7.3i!9 are 
unaccounted for. In the war for the T'nion— no, there is no need of 
figures there. (!o to the field of Cettysburg and ask. Go :isk that 
old veteran how fever's fetid breath breati.ed on them and disease 
rotted their bloo<l. And in the present war. thank (!od. the loss and 
suffering is li>ss than in any war in all the history of the world! 
(Great applause.) And if any needless suffering there has been, if any 
deaths from criminal neglect, if any hard condition not a usual inci- 
dent of sudden war by a peaceful iieoide li;is been iiermitted. William 
McKinlev will see that the resixnisible ones are punishi'd. (Tremen- 
dous applause.) Although our loss was less than the world ever 
knew before; although the condition of our troops w:is better than in 
any conllicl of our histiu-y. McKinley the Just, has appoint(>d, from 
both piirties, a commission of the most eminent men in the Nation 
to lay the facts before him. (Applause.) Let the investigation go 
on. and when the ri'iKU-t is made the )ieoi)le of America will know 
how black as midnight is the sin of those who. fiu- tlie imriioses of poli- 
tics, have shamed the hardihood of the Am(>ricau soldiers before the 
world, ;ittempte(l to demoralize our army in the face of the enemy, 
and libelled the Government at W;(shiiigl(Ui to delighted and envious 
nations. (Grettt cheering renewed and prolonged.) 

And think of what was done: (Apiilause.) Two hundred and 
fifty thiuisand men suddenly <-alled to arms; men unusial to the life 
of "camps; nii'U fresh from the soft <'(unforts of the best homes of 
the richest jx'ople (Ui earth. Those men. equipped, transported to 
camps convenient for instant call to battle; waiting there the com- 
mand which any moment might have brought; supplies purchased 
in every (lUiirter of the land and carried hundreds, even thousands of 
miles; uniforms iirocured. arms purchased, ammunition bought, citi- 

— ti— 



zens cirillerl into tlie finest soldiers on the slobe; n war fought in the 
deadliest climate in the world, beneath a sun whose rays mean mad- 
ness, and in Spanish surround inss—festerinj; with fever— and yet the 
least suffering: and the lowest loss ever known in all the chronicles of 
war. (Applause.) What would have been the result if those who 
would have plunged us into war before we could have prepared at 
all. could have had their way? What would have happened If these 
warriors of peace, who denounced the rresident as a traitor when he 
would not send the flower of our youth against Havana, with its 
steaming swamps of fever, its splendid outworks and its l.")(»,CMlO des- 
perate defenders — what would have happened if they could have had 
their way? The miiul shrinks and sickens at the thought. Those 
regiments, which we greeted the other day with our cheers of pride, 
would not h.ive nianlud back a,gain. All over this weeping land 
the tender song. "We sliall meet but we shall miss him; there will be (me 
vacant chair," would nave risen once again from desolated homes. 
And the men who would h.-ive done this are the men who are assail- 
ing the Government at Washington to-day and l>laspheming tne repu- 
tation of tlie American soldier. (Applause and clieers renewed again 
and again.) But the wrath of the people will pursue them. (Re- 
newed cheering.) The scorpion whips of the furies will l)e as a caress 
to the deep damnation of those who seek a political issue in defam- 
ing the maidiood of the Republic. God bless the soldiers of 189S 
(great cheering), children of the heroes of 18G1. descendants of the 
heroes of 177»i! In the halls of history they will stand side by s'de 
witli tliose elder sons of glory, and the Opposition to the Government 
at Washington shall not deny them. ((Jreat cheering.) 

NEW LANDS AND MARKETS FOR THE REPUBLIC. 

No! they shall not be robbed of the honor due them, nor sliall the 
Republic be roblied of what they won for their country. I Applause, 
nnewed and prolonged.) For William McKinley is continuing the 
policy that .lefferson besran. lapplausei. Monroe continue<l. Si'wavd ad- 
vanced. Grant promoted. Harrison championed, (ijieers), and the 
growth of the Republic has demanded. ( Applause.) (liawaii is ours: 
Porto Rico is to be ours; at the pra.ver of the people Cuba will finally 
be ours, (great applause): in tlie islands of the East, even to the gates 
of Asia, coaling stations are to lie ours; at the very least the flag of 
a liberal government is to float over the Philippines, and I pray God 
it may be the banner that Taylor unfurled in Texas and Fremont car- 
ried to the coast (cheers)— the Stars and Stripes of (Tlory. (Great 
applause.) And the burning (juestion of this campaign is.'whether 
t,.e American people will accept the gifts of events, (applause); 
whether they will rise as lifts their soaring destiny: whether they 
will proceed upon the lines of national development" surveyed by the 
statesmen of our past; or whether, for the first time. th(> American 
people doubt their mission, (juestion fate, prove apostate to the spirit 
of their race, and halt the ceaseless inarch of free institutions. 

The Opiiosition tells us that we ought not to govern a people with- 
out their consent. I .-inswer. The rule of liberty that all just govern- 
ment di rivi s its authority from the consent of the goveriied. npjilies 
only to those who are capable of self-government. (Great applause.) 
I answer. We govern the Indians without their consent, (applause), 
we govern our territories without their consent, (.applause), we gov- 
ern our children without their consent. I answer. How do you assume 
that our government would be without their consent? Would not the 
people of the Philippines prefer the just, humane, civilizing govern- 
ment of this Republic to the savage, bloody rule of pillage and ex- 
tortion from which we have rescued them? (Appl.-inse ) Do not the 
blazing fires of Joy and the ringing bells of gladness in Porto Rico prove 
the welcome of our flag? (Applause.) And. regardless of this formula 
of words m.-ide only for enlightened, self-governing pi'o])Ies. do we owe 
no duty to the world?; Shall we turn these i.iMipl(>s back to the reeking 
hands from which we have taken them? Shall we abandon them to their 
fate, with the wolves of conquest all about them^with Germany, Rus- 



sia. France, even Japan, hungering for them'.' Shall we save (hem from 
those nations, to give them a self-rule of tragedy? it would be lilce giv- 
ing a razor to a liabe and telling it to shave itself. (Applause and laugh- 
ter. Renewed laughter.) It would be like giving a typewriter to an 
Es(iuiniaux and telling him to publish one of the great dailies of the 
world. This proposition of the Opposition makes the Declaration of 
Independence pi'eposterous, like the reading of Job's lamentations 
would be at a wedding or an Altgeld speech on the Fourth of July. 
(Great applause and laughter. j 

They ask us how we will govern these new possessions. I an- 
swer: Out of local conditions and the necessities of the case methods 
of government will grow. If England can govern foreign lauds, so 
can America. (I'rolouged applause.) If (Jermany can govern loreign 
lands, so can America. (Applause.) If they can supervise protectorates, 
so can America. (Very great applause.) Why is it more ditlicult to nd- 
ministir Hawaii than New Mexico or California? Both had a savage 
and an alirn population; both were more remote from the scat of gov- 
ernment when they came under our dominion than Hawaii is to-day. 
Will you say by your vote that American ability to govern has de- 
cayeil; that a century's experience in self-rule has failed of a result? 
/' Will you affirm by your vote that you are an infidel to American 
vigor and power and practical sense? Or, that we are of the ruling race 
of the world: that ours is the blood of government; ours the heart of 
dominion; ours the brain and genius of administration? (Great 
applause.) Will you remember that we do but what our fathers did 
— we but pitch the tents of liberty further westward, further 
southward— we only continue the march of the flag. (Prolonged ap- 
plause and cheers.) 

THE MARCH OF THE FLAG. 

The march of the flag! iCheers.) In 1789 the flag of the 
republic waved over 4,000,ob() souls in thirteen states, and their sav- 
age territory which stretched to the Mississipni, to Canada, to the 
Florid.-is. 'I'lie timid minds of that day said that no new territory was 
needed, and, for the hour, they were right. But Jefferson, through 
whose intellect the <'ent\n-ies niarclied: Jefferson, whose l)lood was Sax- 
on but whose schooling was French, and therefore whose deeds neg- 
atived his words; Jefferson, who dreamed of Cuba as a state of the 
I nidii; Jefferson, the tirst imperialist of the Republic— Jefferson 
acciuired that imperial territory which swept from the Mississippi to 
the mountains, from Texas to the British possessions, and the march 
of (he flag began! (Ai)i)lause.) The infidels to the gospel of liberty 
raved, but the flag swept on! (Cheers.) The title to that noble l.ind 
out of wiiich Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana have been 
carved was uncertain; Jefferson, strict constructionist of constitu- 
tional power though he was, obeyed the Anglo-Saxon Impulse with- 
in him, whose watchword then and whoso w.atchword throughout 
the world today is, "Forward," (cheers), another empire was added 
to the Republic, and the march of the flag went on! (Apjilause.) 
Those who deny th(> power of free institutions to expand urged every 
argument, and more, tliat we hear, to-day; l)ut the people's judgment 
approved tlie conunand of their nlood, and the march of the flag went 
on! (Appbnise.) A screen of land from New Orleans to Flori<la sliut 
us from tlie gulf, and over diis and the Everglade Peninsula w.aved 
the saffron flag of Spain; Andrew Jackson seized both, the Ameri- 
can people stood at his back. and. \mder Monroe, the Floridas came 
nnder the dominion of the Republic, and the march of the flag went 
on! (Appl.-iuse.i The Cassandras prophesied every prophecy of de- 
spair we hear, to-day, but the march of the flag went on! Then 
Texas responded to the Imgle calls of liberty, and the march of the 
flag went on! (Cheers.) And, ;.t last, we waged war with Mexico. 
and the flag swept over (he Southwest, over peerless California, past 
the Gate of CJold to Oregon on the north, and. from ocean to ocean 
its folds of glory blazed. ((Jreat cheering.) And, now, olieying the 
the same voice that .lefferson heard and obeyed, that Jackson heard 



and ol)eyea. lUut Jlouroe heard and obeyed, that Seward heard and 
obeyed, that Ulysses S. Grant heard and obeyed, that Benjamin Har- 
rison heard and obeyed, (cheers), William McKinley plants the flag 
over the islands ot the seas, outposts of commerce, citadels of national 
securitv. and the march of the flag goes on! (Long continued cheer- 
ing), iiryan. Bailey, Bland and Blackburn command it to stand still, 
but the "march of the flag goes on! (Renewed cheering.) And the 
question you will answer at the polls is, whether you stand with this 
quartet of disbelief in the American people, or whether you are 
marching onward with the flag. (Tremendous cheering.) 

Distance and oceans are no arguments. The fact that all the ter- 
ritory our fathers bought and seized is contiguous, is no argument. 
In 1819 Florida was further from New York than Torto Rico is from 
Chicago to-day. (applause); Texas, further from 'Washington in 1845 
than Hawaii is from Boston in 1898, (applause); California, more in- 
accessible in 18-17 than the Philippines are now. (Great applause.) 
Gibraltar is further from London than Havana is from Washington; 
Melbourne is further from Liverpool than Manila is from San Fran- 
cisco. The ocean does not separate us from lands of our duty and 
(jesii-e — tlie oceans join us. a river never to lie ilrediied. a canal never 
to be repaired. (Applause.) Steam joins us; electricity joins us— the 
very elements are in league with our destiny. (Continued applause 
and cheers.) Cuba not contiguous! Porto Rico not contiguous! Ha- 
waii and the Philippines not contiguous! Our navy will make them 
contiguous. (Great cheering, renewed again and .again.) Dewey and 
Sampson and Schley have made them contiguous, and American 
speed, American guns, American heart and brain and nerve will keep 
them contiguous forever. (Renewed cheering.) ^ 

But the Opposition is right— there is a difference. We did not need 
the western Mississippi Valley when we acquired it, nor Florida, nor 
Texas, nor California, nor the royal provinces of the far Northwest. 
We had no emigrants to people this imperial wilderness, no money 
to develop it, even no highways to cover it. No trade awaited us in 
Its savage fastnesses. Our productions were not greater than our 
trade. There was not one reason for the landlust of our statesmen 
from Jefferson to Grant, other than the prophet and the Saxon within 
them. (Applause.) But, to-day, we are raising more than we can 
consume. To-day. we are making more than we can use. To-day, 
our industrial society is congested; there are more workers than there 
is work; there is more capital than there is investment. We do not 
need more money — we need more circulation, more employment. 
(Applause.) Therefore we must find new markets for our produce, 
new occupation for our capital, new worlv for our labor. (Great ap- 
plause.) And so. while we did not need the territory taken during 
tne past century at the time it was acquired, we do need what we 
have taken in 1898. and we need it now. (Long continued applause.) 
Think of the thousands of Americans who will pour into Hawaii and 
Porto Rico when the Republic's laws cover those islands with jus- 
tice and safety! (Applause.) Think of the tens of thousands of 
Americans who will invade mine and field and forest in the Philip- 
pines when a liberal government, protected and controlled by this Re- 
public, if not the government of the Republic itself, shall establish 
order and equity there! (Great applause and cheers.) Think of the 
hundreds of thousands of Americans who will build a soap-and-water. 
comnion-scliool civilization of energy and industry in Piilia. when 
a government of law replaces the double reign of anarchy and tyr- 
anny! (applause)— thiniv of the prosperous mil'ioiis iii.-it Empress of 
Islands will support when, obedient to the law of political gravitation, 
her people ask for the liighest honor liberty can bestow, the sacred 
Order of the Stars and Stripes, the citizenship of the Great Republic! 
(Cheers.) 

HOW NEW MARKETS WILL HELP US. 

What does all this mean for every one of us? It means oppor- 
tunity for .tJI the glorious young manhood of the Republic (applause) 
— the most virile, ambitious, impatient, militant manhood (cheers) 

—9— 



tlic world luis rvcr sit-ii. It lucaiis thut the rcs.nircrs :inil the com- 
iiii iTi- (it these iiiinu'Usely ricli dominions will lie iiiere;ised ;ts niucll 
as AnuM-ican eners.v is greater than Spanish sloth, laiiplaiise); for 
Anierieaus henceforth will mouopolizf those resotn-ees and that coiu- 
nieree. I Renewed aiiplanse.l In l.'nba, alone, there are iri,(H)0.(Km 
acres of forest unaciinainted with the axe. There are exhaustless 
mines ol iron. There are priceless deposits of niani;aiiese. millions of 
dollars of which we must ouy, to-day. from the UlacU Sea districts. 
There are millions of acres yet unexplored. The resources of Porto 
Uieo have oidy been tritled with. The riches of the Philippines 
have hardly been touched by the tin.iier tips of modern meth- 
ods. And they produce what we cannot, and they consume what we 
produce— the very predestination of reciprocity— a reciproc-ity "not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'' (Protracteil applause.) 
They sell hemp. silk, sujiar. cocoanuts. coffee, fruits of the tropics, 
timber of price liki' mahogany: they buy Hour, clothiuf;. tools, imple- 
ments, nmchinery and all that we can raise and nuike. And William 
McKinley intends that their trade shall be ours. lOreat applause.) 
Do you "endorse that policy with your vote? It means creative in- 
vestiuent for every dollar of idle capital in the land— an opportunity 
for the rich man to do something; with his money besides hoarding 
it or lendinf; it. i.Vpplause.) It means occupation for every workiufc- 
man in the counti-y at wages which the development of new re- 
source s. the launching of new enterprises, the monopoly of new mar- 
kets always brings. lApiilause.l Cuba is as large as Pennsylvania, 
and is the richest sjiot on all the globe. Hawaii is as large as New 
Jersey: Porto Kico half as large as Hawaii; the Pliiliiipines larger 
than all .New ICngland. New York, New .Jersey and Helaware. All 
these ar(> larger than the British Isles, larger than France, larger 
than Germany, larger than .Tapan. The trade of these islands, de- 
velo]ied as we will develop it by developing their resources, monopo- 
lized as we will monopolize it. will set every reaper in this Republic 
singing, every spindle whirling, every furnace spouting the flames of 
industry. iCriat applause.) I ask each one of you this personal ques- 
tion; i)o you believe that th(>se resoiu'ces will be better developed 
and that commerce best secured; do you lielieve that all these price- 
less ndv.-inlages will be lieller availed of f(U- the benefit of tliis Repub- 
lic by liryan. I'.ailey. Illand and Ulackburn .-ind Ihe Opposition; or. 
by William McKinley and a House aii<l Senate thai will help and not 
hiiKler himV (Long continued applause.) Which do yon thiidc will 
get the most good for you ami the .\merican peojile out of the o)i))or- 
tunities whicli Providence has given us— the (Jovernment at Wash- 
ington or the (>|iiHisition in NelirasU.a. Texas. Kentucky and Mis- 
souri? (.\pplanse). Whicli side will you belong to— those who pull 
forward in Ihe traces of National iirosperity and destiny, or those 
who pull b.-iel; in those traces, balk at every sti^) of advancement, 
and bi'.-iy al exery mile posl of jiiMgress? ll^aughler. cheers and ap- 
jilaiise.) 

If any man tells you lliat li-ade depends on cheapness and not on 
goveri'meni influence.' ask him wliy Kiigl.-md does not abandon South 
Africa, Egypt, India. (Applause.) Why does France seize South 
China. Cei-many the vast region whose |iort is Kaouchou? jAp- 
plause.) Consider the <-oninn>rcc of the Siianish isl.-inds. In 18!l7 we 
bought of the Philippines .-|;4.:;S.-,,71(». and we sold them only ;f!)4.597. 
Great Britain, that national expert in trade, did little better, for. iu 
l.SliC. she bought .S(;.-'-J:!4-Ji; and sohl only ifL'.nta.-iP.S. But Spain- 
Spain, the paralytic of commerce— Spain bought only .$4.S1S.:U4 and 
sold .'«4.'.i7:{.."iS'.): Fellow-citizens, from this day on that proportion of 
trade, increased and nniltiplied. must belong to the Anu>rican Repul>- 
lic. iGreat apjihuise.) I repeat, increased and multiplied, for with 
American brains and energy, with Anu'rican methods and American 
goverrmiiil. dots any one here, to-night, doubt that .\merican exports 
will exceed Spain's imports twenty times over? (Applause.) Does 
any one of yon doubt that .floo.ood.ood of food and clothing and tools 

—10— 



and implements and machinery will ultimately lie shipped evei-y year 
from the I'nited States to that archipelago of tremendous possibili- 
ti(S? (Applause.) And will anyone of you refuse to welcome that 
golden trade with your vote? 

Wliat lesson does Cuba teach V Cuba can raise no cereals— no 
wheat, no corn, no oats, no liarley and no rye. What we make and 
raise Cuba consumes, and wliat she nialces and raises we consume: 
and this order of commerce, is fixed forever by the unalterable de- 
crees of nature. And she is at our doors, too— only an ocean river be- 
tween I's. (Applause.) Yet. in 1800. we bousht .$40,017.7(13 of her 
products, and we sold her only .$7,103,173 of our products; while Spain 
bought only .$4.2.j7,3(;0 and sold her .$2(J,14.5,S0(V-and that proportion 
existed before the insurrection. Fellow-citizens, from this day on, 
that order must be reversed and increased. (Cheers.) Cuba's present 
population is (Uily aliout 1.00().00(»; her proper population is aliout 
10,000.000. Tens of millions of acres of her soil are yet untouched l)y 
enterprise. If Spain sells Culia $21,(IOO.O(IO in IS'.ll. and $2il.(ltK),000 in 
1890, America will sell Culia .$20(1.000.000 in lOOd (Applause.) In 
1800 we bought of Porto Itico .$2.21i(;,C,."i:!. and sold lier only $1,085,888. 
and yet Spain boujrht only $5,423,700 and sold her $7,328,880. Wil- 
liam McKinley proposes that tliose fi.cures shall be increased and re- 
versed, (applause), and the (juestion is, whether you will endorse him 
In that resolutiini of prosperity? The ])ractical queslion. for each one 
of us. is, whetlier we had better leave the development of all this 
tremendous commerce to the Administration wliicli lilierated these 
island confine nls and now lias tlie settlement of their government 
under way: or, risk the future in the hands of those who oppose the 
Gov( rnment at Washington and the commercial supremacy of the 
Rtpublic. (Applause.) 

How will all (his help each one of us. Our trade with Porto Rico 
and Haw;iii will lie as free as between the States of the Union, (ap- 
plause), because they are American soil, while every other nation on 
earth must iia.v our tariff before' tliey can coni]iete witn us. (Ap- 
plause.) Tfntil Culia and the Philippines shall ask for annexation, 
our trade with them will, at the very least, be like the preferential 
trade of Canada with England— a trade which gives the Republic 
the pri ference over the rest of the world (applause)— a trade which 
applies the principle of protection to colonial commerce (cheers) 
the )irini-iple wliich all the world employs, to-day: the jirin- 
ciple which Kngland uses whenever she fears for a market and which 
.she has put into practice against us in Canada. That, and the ex- 
cellence of our goods and products: that, and the convenience of 
traffic; that, and the kinsliip of interests and destiny, will give the 
monopoly of these markets to tlie American people. (Apjilause.) And 
then— then, tile factories and mills and shops will call again to their 
hearts of fire the workingmen of the Repulilic (great applause), to 
receive once more the wages and eat once more the bread of pros- 
perous times, (cheers): tlien the farmer will find at his door, once 
more, the golden home marlvet of those who work in factory and 
mill, and wlio want flour and meat and butter .'ind cgsrs and garments 
of wool, and who have once more the money to pay for it all. (Oreat 
applause.) It means now employment and lietter wages for ever.v la- 
boring man in tlie I'nion. It means liigher prices for every liushel 
of wlii'.'it :\ui] corn, for every iiounil of liutter and meat, for every item 
that the farmers of this Repulilic jiroduce. It means active, vigor- 
ous, constructive investment of every dollar of mould.v and miserly 
capital in the land. (Applause.) It means all this, to-morrow, and 
all tliis forever, because it means not onl.v the trade of the prize 
provinces, but the beginning of the commercial (unpire of the Re- 
public. (Renewed and continued applause.) And. amid these great 
events, will you niarcli forwar<l with the endless column of pros- 
perit.v, or. sit with Rryan. Bailey. Bland and Blackliurn on the rotten 
and crumbling rail fence of dead issues and hoot at the procession as 
it passes by? (Laughter and great applause with cheers.) 

— 11 — 



TIIK COMMERCIAL EMPIRE OF THE REPUBLIC. 
I saiil Ibe comiiieic-ial euipirc of the Republic. That is the greatest 
l"::cl ui tlu' future. (Apiilause.) Aud tliat is wliy these islands in- 
volve considerations larger than their own commerce. The com- 
mercial supremacy of the Reiniblic means that this Nation is to bt 
the sovereign factor in the peace of the world. (Applause.) For the 
conflicts of the future are to be conflicts of trade— struggles for mar- 
kets— coniuicrcial wars for existence. And the uuUleu nde of peace 
Is impregnability of position and invincibility of preparation. So. we 
see England, the greatest strategist of history, plant her Hag and her 
cauncin on (iibraltar, at Quebec, the Bermudas, Vancouver, every- 
whrn-, imtil, from every point of vantage, her royal banner flashe.s 
in I he sun. So Hawaii ftirnishes us a naval base in the heart of the 
Pacific, (applause); the Ladronos auother. a voyage further into the 
region of sunset and commerce; Manila, another, at the gates of 
Asia— Asia, to the trade of whose hundreds of millions American 
merchants. American mannfaeturers, American farmers, have as good 
a righi as those of Germany or France or Russia or lOnglaud. (great 
applause); Asia, whose commerce with England alone, amounts to bil- 
lions of dollars every year; Asia, to whom (iermany looks to take the 
sur|dus (if her f.actories and foundries and mills; Asia, whose doors shall 
Mot be shut against American trade. (Applause aud cheers.) With- 
in two decades the bulk of Oriental commerce will be ours, (re- 
newed applause)— the richest commerce in the world. In the light of 
that golden future, our chain of new-won stations rise like ocean 
sentinels from the night of waters, (applause)— Porto Rico, a nobler 
(libraliar; the Istlmiian canal, a greater Suez; Hawaii, the Ladrones, 
ihe Philippines, commanding the Pacific! (Applause.) Ah! as our 
ciminieree sjireads, the flag of liberty will circle the globe, and the 
highways of the ocean— carrying trade of all mankind, be guarded by 
the gun.s of the Republic. (Applause.) And, as their thunders salute 
the flag, benighted peoples will know that the voice of Liberty is 
speaking, at last, for them; that civilization is dawning, at lasl. for 
them — Liberty and Civilization, those children of Christ's gospel, who 
follow and never precede. Ihe prejiaring march of commerce! (Ap- 
plause.) It is the tide of (lod's great purposes made manifest in the 
insiiiicis of our race, whose present phase is our personal profit, but 
■whose far-off end is the redemjitlon of the world and the Christian- 
ization of mankind. ((Jroat applause.) Aud he who throws himself 
before tliat current is like him who, with puny arm, tries to turn the 
gidf stream from lis eoui'se. or stay, by idle incantations, the blessed 
processes of the sun. i.\|)jilause.) Shall this future of the race b" 
left with those who, under Cod, began this career of sacred duty anil 
immorf::! ghiry; or, shjill we risk it to those who would scuttle the 
ship of ludgress and build a dam in the current of destiny's large 
designs'.' (Cheers.) 

No wonder that, in the shadows of coming events so great, fre(>- 
sllver is already a memory. (Laughter and applause.) The mighty 
current of history Inis swept past that episode. (Applause.) Men 
undersland. to-day, that the greatest commerce of Ihe world must be 
conducted with the steadiest standard of value and most convenient 
uiediem of exeliaiig(> human ingenuity can devise. (Applause.) Time, 
that unerring reasoner, has settled the silver (luestion. (Applause.) 
The Amirican iieojile are tired of talking about money— they want li> 
make il. (Cheers.) I'rofit Is an unanswerable argument. In a year 
or two thousands of Demoeratic Investors will be making fortunes 
developing our island interests, (gi-eat aiijilause and laughter); tens of 
tlousanils of Democnitic farmers will be selling their pork and beef 
and wheat to the teeming millions that will pour into the Antilles 
and the gardens of the Pacific, and to the home-market our foreign 
liade Will create, (applause); tens of thousands of Democratic work- 
Inginen will be weaving fabrics jind forging implements of industry 
and carrying trade from port to port, and not a man of them will con- 
sent to be paid in any money but the best. (Cheers.) Self-interest 
clears the brain. Why should Ihe farmer get a half-measure dollar 

— 12 — 



.Illy more fban he should pive :i half -measure bushel of grain? (Ap- 
lilanse.) The American people have graduated from the tinancial 
kindergarten, and free-silver is. to-day. as innocuous as fiat money. 
I Applause.) 

FREE-SILVER IS FIATISM. 

Why should not the proposition for the free coinage of silver be 
as dead as the proposition of irredeemable paper money? It is the 
same proposition in a different form. (Applause.) If the Goverumeni 
stamp can make a piece of silver, which you can buy for 45 cents, 
pass for 100 cents, the Government stamp can make a piece of pew- 
ter, worth one cent, pass for lOO cents, and a piece of paper, worth a 
fraction of a cent, pass for 100 cents. (Applause.) Free-silver is 
the principle of fiat money applied to metal. If you favor fiat silver, 
you necessarily favor liat paper, just as you necessarily approve alco- 
hol if you prefer whisky for your daily drink. (Applause.) "For fiat 
money free-silver is, and to fiat money it shall return," saith the laws 
of finance. (Applause.) 

And the American people have learned the fallacy of fiat money. 
(Applause.) Thej- have asked fiatism these questions. If the Govern- 
ment can make money with a stamp, why does the Government bor- 
row money? (Great applause.) If the Government can create value 
out of nothing:, why is not all taxation abolished? If revenue can be 
turned out of a printing press or stamp machine, why have a tariff 
for ei(her revenue or proliction? (Great and long-continued applause, 
with cheers.) 

if (he Government can fix the ratio between gold and silver at 16 
to 1 by law. when it is Oo to 1 in the market, why not fix the ratio at 
1 to 1, nmke the silver dollar a more convenient size and sixteen 
times more plentiful? lAiJplause.) If free coinage makes -i'j cents' 
worth of silver really worth 100 cents, how will ithat raise the price 
of anything but silver? (Applause and laughter.) And how will that 
help anybody but the silver mine owner? (Applause.) And if free 
coinage will not make 45 cents of silver really worth 100 cents; 
if that piece of silver still remains worth only 45 cents, notwithstand 
ing the lie stamped on its honest face, and will buy only 45 cents' 
worth of groceries or clothing or shoes or hats, is that the kind of a dol- 
lar you want your wages paid in? (Applause.) Is that the kind of a 
dollar you iv.-int to sell your crops for? If it is. where will yon be 
better off? And if it is not the stamp of the Government they claim 
that raises the value, but the demand which free coinage "creates, 
why has the value of silver gone down at a time when more silver 
was bought and coined by the (Jovernment than ever before in thj 
history of the world? (Great applause.) And if the people want 
more silver, why do they refuse what we already have? (Applause.) 
And if free silver makes money more plentiful, how will you get any 
of it? (Great cheering.) Will the silver-mine owner give it to you? 
(Laughter.) Will he loan it to you? Will the Government give or 
lean it to you? lApplause.) Where do you or I come in on this free- 
silver i-roposition? (Applause.) 

Apply the principle to yourself as well ;is to the Government. If 
you are to be paid in a dollar worth (wo-fifths of its face, why not 
slip a false bottom into your bushel luf asure and sell two-fifths' of a 
bushel for a full bushel of grain? (Applause.) Why not work three 
hours and call it a day. if they give .you 45 cents' worth of silver and 
call it a dollar? Why not lie all round and cheat all round, if the lie 
and the cheat begins with the Government? (Applause.) And if the 
Government lies three-fifths in declaring lliat 45 cents is 100 cents, 
why not lie five-fifths and declare that nothing at all is 100 cents^ 
(Gre.ai applause.) Why not make a fiat dollar? And if they pay you 
a fiat dollar, why not give a fiat bushel of wheat or a fiat day" of 
labor? Why not just quit altogether, make money, like Hell's pave- 
ments, out of good resolutions, stamp ourselves Vich (laughter and 
applause), pitch silver and l'oM into the sea, abolish hunger by stat- 
ute and solve the money question by the imagination and the wilP 
lAppIausc !ind cheers.) 

—13— 



I'"cllow-iil izt'US. do .vol! think il is suli' to lampur with llie stand- 
ard lo which thi^ vast and delicate luachiuery of our couiiuercial civili- 
zatitn is adjusted? Is it safe to disturb the measure with reference 
to which every contract is made, every policy of insurance issued, 
every value estimated? lAiiplause.) Is it safe to again experiment 
witli our returning prosperity? Have times not been hard enough? 
Have we not learned our lesson well enough in the terrible scliool 
of a iienple's woes? ((ireat applause.) 

SETTLEMENT OF THE .MONEY QUESTION. 

And, yet, I thank (Jod for the financial baptism of tire the Ameri- 
can people pass: d through in ISiHi. Why? Because it started them to 
thiiikiuj:, and the American people never start to tliiid-iing and sloj) 
haif-way tlirough Ihe syllogism. And the American people are going 
to think this money (juestion clear through and settle it forever. If 
the Aiiieri<:in lai.(_.rrr wants his wages [laid in the best nioney: if the 
farmt r wants the best money for his cattle and hogs and wheat, he 
wants that fact fixed in the laws of the Nation. (Applause and 
cheers.) No man wants any mistake about the kind of standard ve 
have; no uiu-ertainty, no sudden or capricious exchange. We all want 
to know just where we are^just what we can rely on. Therefore, 
we want it written in the laws of the Uepublic. that a dollar of gold 
is this Nation's standard of value, which no President can dishonor, 
no caprice of politics unsettle, and nothing but the sovereign people 
of the United States in Congress assendiled can change. (Creat .-ip- 
platis .) To-day we have nothing but a resolution that all our money 
shail be kei)t as good as gold— a resolution no President is bounil to 
obey. When Cleveland was President, Stevenson was Vice-Presid<'nl 
and Oln .v was Secretary of State. Our whole financial system rested 
on the life of (irover Cleveland. If he had died. Stevenson, a free- 
silver man. would have become President, and would have hurled us 
to a silver basis in a da.y. If Stevenson had died. ()lney. a gold 
man, wonld have become President, and would have lifted us to a 
gold stand.ird by the dip of a pen. No pecple on earth could endure 
all that, (.\pplatise.l .\ nation of angels could not stand that. (Ap- 
plause.) War aiid famine would be blessings beside that catastrophe. 
And now, thank Cod! now. Ihe .\nierican iieojile .are .aroused to 
till ir <langer, and they will lix their slaiKlard by law. where no con- 
spirac.v of mine owners ;ind demagogues will ever be tem]ited lo dis- 
lodge it b.v the election of a President (great applause); they will lix 
thi ir standard, b.v law, where no power c.-in alter it but the people 
themselves. Antl whoever is oiijiosed to that i)roi)osition is ojiposej 
to a "government of the pen|)le. for the people and by tlie people," 
(IJenrwed ajiplause.) 

The heart of our linancial system to-day is the Nation's resolution 
to keep all our moiie.v just as good as gold. Hack of that resolution 
stands the (Jovi'rnmenl's reserve of gold, ready lo make th;il reso- 
lution good, just as the reserve of cash in .v(ntr bank makes good its 
promise to pay your check. (Appl.-iuse.l That gold reserve, and thv» 
Niition's pledge to maintain it, gives ihe whole world conlideni'C in all 
the variegated mone.v of Ihe Itepublic (applause). Just as your bank'.s 
reserve gives you confidence in its present solvency. When you can 
no longer gel gidd for your greenbacks or treasury notes, they are 
no longer good as gold. To-day. practically, a gold dollar ultimately 
stands back of ever.v dollar of the Republic's money. And so, upon 
tli.-il gold reserve; \ipon Ihe (iovernmeiit's ability lo ]):iy out gold 
upon demand — rests the honor of the Nation and the safely of every 
dollar In the land. 

And. yet, that gold reserve is to-day in danger from every buc- 
caneer of finance in the world. I'<ir. when greeiiliaeks are redeemed 
in gold by Ihe treasury, they must be issued again in p;iynient of the 
Government's expenses, and so they go back finally to the hands of 
the man who drew gold out of the Ireasury with them. .\nd when 
the gold reserve goes down by redeeming those greeidiacks. the Gov- 
ernment niu^t sell boiuls to get fjold to rejilace that «hic!i the green- 

—14— 



backs have drawn out, uuless the tariff puts euough gold into the 
treasury to Iveep the reserve lutaet: and so, when the financial spiders 
of the world see our revenue so reduced that it cannot lieep our gold 
reserve full if attacked, Ihey gather the greeul)acks into their hands, 
get gold for them at the treasury, force the Government to borrow 
gold on the Nation's bonds to replace the gold they have just drawn 
out with those greenbacks, then buy those bonds with that very gold, 
and so secure the best investment known to man. And then those 
greenbacks once more go into circulation, once mure get into the pi- 
rates' hands, and once more serve as the tools of financial villainy. 
Fel ow-citizens, the American people are too smart to permit that 
condiiion to continue. (Cheers.) William McKinley says that it shall 
not ciiiitiiiue. (Applause.) William McKinley says that, if any man 
gets gi Id out of (he treasury by paying a greenback into the treasury, 
he shall i;ot j^ct that greenback out of the treasury again, until he pays 
go d back into the treasury for it. (Prolonged cheering.) And the 
question is, whether you agree with your President in that statesman- 
ship of commcin sense. William JIcKinley says that the revenue Laws 
of the Nation shall be so framed that a ceaseless stream of gold, pour- 
ing into the treasury, will prove to the gandilers in the Nation's honor 
that any raid on the Nation's gold will meet inevitable defeat. (Great 
applause.) He favors such a tariff as will prevent Hill Sykes and the 
Fagirs of finance from trying to open the Republic's treasury with a 
greenback for a jimmy. (liaughter and applause.) And the question 
is, whither you :igree with your president in this the elementary princi- 
ple of financial prudence. (Renewed applause.) 

The American people want this money question settled for ever. 
(Cheers.) They want a uniform currency, a convenient currency, a 
currency that grows as business grows, a currency based on science 
and not on chance. (Cheers.) 

And now, ( n the threshold of our career as the first Power of earth, 
is the time to periuanently adjust our system of finance. (Applause.) 
The American |)eople have the most tremendous tasks of history to 
perform. They have the mightiest commerce of the world to conduct. 
They cannot halt their imperial progress of wealth and power and 
glory and Christian civilization to unsettle their money system every 
time ome ardent imagination sees a vision and dreams a dream. (Ap- 
plause.) Think of Great Britain becoming the commercial monarch of 
the W( rid with her financial system periodically assailed! (Applause.) 
Think (if lliill.ind or Germany or France bearing their burdens, and, 
yet. send ng their flag to every sea. with their money at the mercy of 
politicians out of an issue! (Laughter and applause.) Let us settle the 
whole linancial question on principles so sound that a revolution can- 
not shake tlieir firm foundations. (Cheers.) And then, like men and 
not like children, let us on to our tasks— on to our mission and on to our 
destiny. (Applause.) We are speeding up the shining rails of an im- 
mortal history: yonder, in the rear, is the nightmare swamp of free 
silver. Why go back to it, like the victim of opium to his deadly pipe? 
(Applause.) Why not accept the gifts of nature and events— events, 
which have made the oceans our servants, the trade winds our al- 
lies, and the stars in their courses our champions? (Applause.) Na- 
ture, which has thrown the wealth of Klondyke. the new found gold 
of the Philijipines, the unsuspected and exhaustless mines of Colorado 
and the Cape into the crucible of financial agitation, and thus dis- 
solved the last excuse for war upon the golden standard of civilization, 
(tremendous applause)— the excuse that the gold supply is insuflicient 
and is failing. (Cheers.) Now. when new rivers of gold are pouring 
through the fields of business, the foundations of all silver-standard 
arguments are swept away. (Applause.) Why mumble the meaning- 
less phrases of a tale that is told, when the golden future is before us. 
th'> world calls us. its wealth awaits us, and (JckI's eonunand is upon 
us? (Cheers.) Why stand in the fata! stupor of financial fallacies 
muttering old sophistries that time has exploded, when opportunity 
beckons yo>i all over the world— in Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, on 
the waters of commerce, in every market of Occident and Orient, and 

—15— 



cities to be 1i"il'l '''\''"' ''?''^^\' ! ' ,.^, ,,,,,,,,ies to bo saved, civilization 
be .N-ou. sbil^s to be ^>"";1;,"^ ,f e^-n lu ■' to the e= ger air of every 
to be rroolainuMi a.ul '1''' "'\V Lis ai hour to \vaste upon triflers ^vith 

to this favored l'*^°l'^\ "^' .'° '"";i,,",J^ it is a time to bethink you 

,„,,„.ir.«.,.»n<.i™|^j-,'^;';, -,;■;,',,;,■:,%;„ , „„„■ ,.,.v,„„i 

iGnai applause.) It is " """, \" ' „ r,„^. ^,^„h God. who. patiently, 
man. servant of the 1?^°P>%=;"'\ ^ , ^s.^'" ,\ " fo ,1 e -cean of world 

afain renewed.) 

AAIKRICANS ARE GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE. 
Pollow-Auunicaus. we are God's <^osen pec^le^ Voude,-_at BunUer 
Hill an.l Yoriuowu His proy.de ce was o e us. At^^N^^^^ ^._^^^^^ 
and on ensan;_nnned f ••^,^ 1 s h. d ^r, .'"of Freedom. (appl:."se,. the 
r"^"",C:er'on" mm^.^ ^tl^M^ <Applause.) His power 
hoys m blue ^''\"'\,'\""'" ''',,, delivered the Spanish fl.'et into our 

'"'•'";''■'' 'H'"'';-e „f ib^i- 's n a 1 v! (^^ applaus..). as He deliv- 
hands on the t^e ol I-'''' i^J ^ " »^' ' •:• . ,„„. Kn-lisli sires two cen 



er.;;fu;:'Z.;Arn;adrb.;Vtln..n.dsofourKn^^ 

turles ago. His ^vat y>^^^^:^J\;:^^;^^^ ,d ■= im^s. and leads us 
which surpasses the intentions of on .sw^^^^^^^^ ^.^ 



uatious iuiiiiiL-,v>-.. ■■.. "• ,.„„i.,„u,. ^ 'I'lie Vmerican people can 

K'tS:t;;';;?fiSV™«.;»;;.jj..;;:;-f™;;:»|;,,«t^;:i;; 

1.2'ss' ;,;:'i.r™». ',,;:;,,',r.;,'.;n'..":;',;sr„„„ ,„.. .1. 

nmnkind— the flag!— 

-Ela? of the free heart's liope and h..iiie. 
Hv an^el hands to valor Riven. 

Thv stars have lit the welkin dome. ^ 
Vnd'all their hues were l>orn in heaven. 

Forever wave that siandard sheet. 
Where breathes the foe but falls befor.. us. 

With freedom's soil beneath our feet 
And freedom's banner streaming o'er us! 

(Prolonged cheering.) 



